Deadly Shark Attack.

 

Beloved youth pastor killed in shark attack.

Anugrah Kumar  31 December 2024(Photo: Getty/iStock)

(CP) A beloved youth pastor in Queensland, Australia, died after a shark attack while spearfishing. The 40-year-old was bitten on the neck while in the water with his family, according to reports.

Emergency services received calls this past weekend and found Luke Walford, a youth pastor from the Cathedral of Praise church in Rockhampton, Queensland, suffering "life-threatening injuries," according to The Straits Times.

Police said Walford was fishing off Humpy Island in the Great Barrier Reef's Keppel Bay Islands National Park when the attack happened. A Queensland ambulance spokesperson said Walford had sustained a "significant life-threatening wound to his neck" and died at the scene.

Walford had previously posted photos of himself in a wetsuit during earlier fishing trips and was believed to have been spearfishing at the time, according to community leaders.

"This was a young man who loved people, who loved God," Claude Fingleton, the pastor of Cathedral of Praise, told the Australian broadcaster ABC, as noted by The Times. "He was greatly loved." CT.